Penalty for Scotland! A short history of spot kicks for the national team

Tommy Walker's penalty earned Scotland a 1-1 draw at Wembley in 1936, and secured the Home International Championship

There are few tasks more daunting in football than taking a penalty kick. And if the whole nation is watching and praying, you need nerves of steel. 
   Some of Scotland's penalties have changed the course of our football history. The recent successful penalty shoot-outs in the Nations League took us to the Euro finals. Five out of five, in two consecutive matches!
   But penalties can also turn heros into zeros. Don Masson's spot kick against Wales in 1977 secured qualification for the World Cup in Argentina, but who could forget his miss against Peru in the 1978 finals? And will Gary McAllister always be remembered for his kick being saved at Wembley in the 1996 Euros?
   It is such a key part of football, that I decided to compile a complete list of every penalty awarded in Scotland men's international team matches. (See below or click on this link for a pdf).
   The penalty kick has a long and turbulent history. It was added to the Laws of the Game in June 1891 and the very first penalty goal was scored by James McLuggage at Mavisbank Park in Airdrie. It soon became established as part of the game and the first international penalty, taken by Ireland's Sam Torrans against England in 1892, was saved. The first penalty to be scored in an international came in 1896 from another Irishman, Bob Milne, who helped his side to a 3-3 draw against Scotland.
   Responsibility for taking penalties usually fell to the team captain, so when Scotland was awarded a penalty after ten minutes of the match against Wales in 1897, it was John Ritchie of Queen's Park, captaining the side on his debut, who took the kick to open the scoring. He gained scant recognition for the feat, however, as he was never selected for Scotland again.
   Scotland's next kick resulted in the first miss, although it could easily have been forgotten about, as Jacky Robertson's failed attempt against Ireland in 1901 would have had little impact on the record 11-0 scoreline.

Disaster for Scotland! Don Masson's spot kick against Peru in the 1978 World Cup finals is saved by Ramon Quiroga

In total, Scotland's success rate is slightly better than the average in football of about 75 per cent.
   Our best individual record in penalties belongs to John Robertson, who hit the net with all five of his kicks, including a memorable winner against England at Wembley in 1981. The only other man to take five was Gary McAllister, but sadly he missed two of them. Eric Caldow and Archie Gemmill both had a perfect record with their four kicks.
   On six occasions, Scotland have been awarded two penalties in the same match: Ireland 1905, East Germany 1974, Israel 1981, Faroe Islands 2006, Gibraltar 2015. Twice that did not result in two goals: in 1974 Sandy Jardine's early effort was saved then Tommy Hutchison took the second award; in 1990 Ally McCoist missed before John Robertson scored the second.

John Robertson, Scotland's penalty king with a perfect record of five out of five, seen here in 1981.

Neither of Scotland's record goalscorers, Denis Law and Kenny Dalglish, ever scored a penalty for Scotland, although Law had the opportunity against Finland in 1965. His shot hit the post.
   As for penalties awarded against Scotland, curiously the numbers are smaller. There have been over 60 in total and most of them have resulted in a goal, although great goalscorers such as Luis Figo and Bobby Charlton have missed. When Charlton shot wide in 1960 it was actually his third penalty of the match: he scored the first, his second attempt was saved but the referee ordered a retake, and his third flew past the post.

A side view of Tommy Walker's successful penalty against England in 1936

Listed below are all penalties awarded in Scotland men's international matches. 

92 penalty kicks awarded to Scotland:
68 scored (4 on the rebound)
​24 missed (14 saved, 4 hit woodwork, 6 wide)
 
1897   Wales: John Ritchie
1901   Ireland: Jacky Robertson (wide)
1905   Ireland: Charlie Thomson (2)
1907   Ireland: Charlie Thomson
1909   England: Jimmy Stark (saved)
1921   Ireland: Andy Wilson (saved but scored the rebound)
1927   Wales: Jock Hutton
1929   Netherlands: Bobby Rankin
1931   N Ireland: David Meiklejohn (wide)
1933   N Ireland: Peter McGonagle (saved)
1936   England: Tommy Walker
1938   Hungary: Tommy Walker
1946   Belgium: Jimmy Delaney
1946   Wales: Willie Waddell
1949   France: George Young (saved)
1949   N Ireland: Willie Waddell
1955   Hungary: Billy Liddell (wide)
1957   Spain: John Hewie
1958   France: John Hewie (hit post)
1958   Wales: Dave Mackay (saved)
1959   N Ireland: John Hewie
1960   Turkey: Eric Caldow
1960   N Ireland: Eric Caldow
1962   England: Eric Caldow
1962   Wales: Eric Caldow
1963   England: Jim Baxter
1965   Finland: Denis Law (hit post)
1969   Cyprus: Tommy Gemmell
1972   Yugoslavia: Willie Morgan (saved)
1972   Denmark: Willie Morgan (over the bar)
1973   West Germany: Billy Bremner (saved)
1974   Wales: Sandy Jardine
1974   East Germany: Sandy Jardine (saved)
1974   East Germany: Tommy Hutchison
1974   Spain: Tommy Hutchison (saved)
1975   England: Bruce Rioch
1976   N Ireland: Bruce Rioch (hit post)
1976   Finland: Don Masson
1977   Argentina: Don Masson
1977   Wales: Don Masson
1978   Bulgaria: Archie Gemmill
1978   Peru: Don Masson (saved)
1978   Netherlands: Archie Gemmill
1978   Norway: Archie Gemmill
​1979   Peru: John Wark (saved)
1980   Portugal: Archie Gemmill
1981   Israel: John Robertson (2)
1981   England: John Robertson
1981   Sweden: John Robertson
1982   Netherlands: Frank Gray
1982   Belgium: Frank Gray (saved)
1983   Canada: Gordon Strachan
1983   Uruguay: John Robertson
1984   Wales: Davie Cooper
1985   Wales: Davie Cooper
1986   England: Graeme Souness
1986   Luxembourg: Davie Cooper
1990   Sweden: Mo Johnston
1990   Switzerland: Ally McCoist (wide)
1990   Switzerland: John G Robertson
1991   San Marino: Gordon Strachan
1992   Canada: Gary McAllister
1992   CIS: Gary McAllister
1993   Estonia: Pat Nevin
1993   Malta: Gary McAllister (hit bar)
1996   England: Gary McAllister (saved)
1997   Belarus: Gary McAllister
1998   Brazil: John Collins
1999  Lithuania: Mark Burchill (hit post but Don Hutchison scored rebound)
1999   Bosnia: John Collins
2001   Belgium: Billy Dodds
2001   Poland: Scott Booth
2004   Sweden: James McFadden
2006   Faroe Islands: Kris Boyd
2006   Faroe Islands: Kenny Miller
2008 Iceland: James McFadden (saved, but he scored the rebound)
2011   Lithuania: Darren Fletcher (saved)
2011   Spain: David Goodwillie
2013 Croatia: Barry Bannan (saved, but Stevie Naismith scored rebound)
2015   Gibraltar: Shaun Maloney (2)
2016   Malta: Robert Snodgrass
2018   Hungary: Charlie Mulgrew (saved)
2018   Israel: Charlie Mulgrew
2018   Albania: Steven Fletcher
2020   Israel: Ryan Christie
2020   Czech Republic: Ryan Christie
2021   Austria: Lyndon Dykes
2021   Israel: Lyndon Dykes (saved)
2022   Republic of Ireland: Ryan Christie

63 penalties conceded by Scotland:
52 scored, 11 missed

1896   Ireland: Robert Milne
1901  England: Ernest Needham (saved by Harry Rennie)
1912   Ireland: James McKnight
1931   Wales: Ernest Curtis
1932   France: Marcel Langiller
1938   Hungary: Gyorgy Sarosi
1951   Austria: Theodor Wagner
1953   N Ireland: Norman Lockhart
1959   West Germany: Erich Juskowiak
1960   England: Bobby Charlton
1960   England: Bobby Charlton (shot wide)
1960   Hungary: Lajos Tichy (shot wide)
1961   Czechoslovakia: Andrej Kvasnak
1963   Norway: Per Kristoffersen
1967  N Ireland: Johnny Crossan (saved by Ronnie Simpson)
1969   England: Geoff Hurst
1971   Belgium: Paul van Himst
1973   Czechoslovakia: Zdenek Nehoda
1974   West Germany: Paul Breitner
1974   Belgium: Raoul Lambert
1976   Wales: Arfon Griffiths
1977   England: Mick Channon
1977   Argentina: Daniel Passarella
1977   East Germany: Hans-Jürgen Dörner (saved by David Stewart)
1978   Wales: Brian Flynn (hit post and rebounded into play)
1978   Netherlands: Rob Rensenbrink
1982   Spain: Satrustegui (saved by Alan Rough but Victor scored the rebound)
1982   Spain: Quini
1985   Iceland: Teitur Thordarson (saved by Jim Leighton)
1988   Italy: Giuseppe Giannini
1990   East Germany: Thomas Doll
1990   Switzerland: Adrian Knup
1991   Romania: Gheorghe Hagi
1993   Switzerland: Georges Bregy
1994   Netherlands: Wim Jonk (hit bar and rebounded into play)
1994   Greece: Stratos Aposotlakis
1995   Ecuador: Ivan Hurtado
1996   USA: Eric Wynalda
1997   Belarus: Pjatro Kachura
1997   France: Youri Djorkaeff
1998   Colombia: Carlos Valderrama
1998   Faroe Islands: John Petersen
2002   Canada: Dwayne De Rosario
2002 Portugal: Luis Figo (saved by Rab Douglas)
2003   Lithuania: Tomas Razanauskas
2003   Germany: Michael Ballack
2004   Hungary: Szabolcs Huszti
2004   Spain: Raúl
2004   Norway: Steffen Iversen
2005   USA: Joshua Wolff
2006   Ukraine: Andrij Shevchenko
2007   Lithuania: Tomas Danilevicius
2008   N Ireland: David Healy (saved by Allan McGregor)
2008   Iceland: Eidur Gudjohnsen
2009   Netherlands: Dirk Kuijt
2010   Spain: David Villa
2011   Brazil: Neymar
2011   Czech Republic: Michal Kadlec
2012   Wales: Gareth Bale
2013   Wales: Aaron Ramsey
2018   Peru: Christian Cueva
2021   Moldova: Vadim Rata (saved by Craig Gordon)
2022   Poland: Krzysztof Piatek

If I have missed any, please let me know.


* Updates to the original list, with thanks to several contributors, in particular Donald Train in the comments below:

Since the article was first published, Lyndon Dykes scored for Scotland against Austria then missed against Israel, and Ryan Christie scored against Republic of Ireland. Craig Gordon saved a penalty against Moldova.

Several missed penalties have been added:

​- George Young's penalty against France in 1949 was saved.
- Billy Liddell shot wide against Hungary in 1955.
​- Dave Mackay's shot was saved by Jack Kelsey in the first minute of the match v Wales in 1958.
- Willie Morgan missed twice in 1972, against Yugoslavia and Denmark.
- Billy Bremner's penalty against West Germany in 1973 was saved by Sepp Maier.
- John Wark's penalty against Peru in 1979 was saved.
- Ally McCoist missed v Switzerland in 1990.

- Lajos Tichy of Hungary shot wide in 1960.
- Johnny Crossan of Northern Ireland had a penalty saved by Ronnie Simpson in 1967.
- Hans-Jürgen Dörner of East Germany had a penalty saved by David Stewart in 1977.
- Brian Flynn of Wales hit the post in 1978, minutes before Willie Donachie's classic own goal.
- Jesus Satrustegui of Spain had a penalty saved by Alan Rough in 1982 but Victor scored the rebound.
- Wim Jonk of Netherlands hit the bar in Utrecht in 1994
- Teitur Thordarson of Iceland had a penalty saved by Jim Leighton in 1985.

Also, thanks to Cris Freddi for pointing out that the first penalty in an international came in 1892; it was saved.
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